What does Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin do in 2010—or before?

There was talk election night at the SD Democratic Victory Party Tuesday (that seems like an eternity ago now) that she might be in line for Secretary of Agriculture.  That would be intriguing.  She is a farm girl.  She’s on the House Ag Committee.  She represents a farm state.  She’s a moderate.  And I believe she would be the first woman Ag Secretary.  She’s also smart as hell.

And the potential loss of one Democrat from the large House majority wouldn’t make a dent to the Democrats.  And we might just elect another Democrat in a special election—Calling Scott Heidepriem?  Mike Huether?  Maggie Gillespie?

In some ways, this might burnish Stephanie’s resume to be a possible Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate in 2016 or 2020 more than being the Governor of South Dakota would.  It is actually running a large, important federal agency that is in charge of America’s most important industry.

Does she want to raise her child in DC rather than Pierre or Brookings?  I’m sure that would be a consideration.

There are others on the list to be agriculture secretary, including another South Dakotan, Tom Daschle, and Tom’s pal from the National Farmers Union, NFU president Tom Buis.  I’m sure there are others as well, people we do and don’t know.

So, wither Stephanie?  Governor in 2010?  U.S. Senate in 2010?  U.S. House in 2010?  Secretary of Agriculture in 2009? 

Vote your suggestion now in this important EppPoll!  See the poll in the right hand column.

Caricature of Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin courtesy of Jackie Dusseau-Bielke and used with permission.

I was on a teleconference with Tom Buis, president of National Farmers Union.  He also advised former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on farm issues.

Buis said he has never seen a greater contrast in the candidates for President on agriculture.

“Sen. McCain, in the House and Senate for a quarter of a century, has always been a vocal critic of American agriculture,” he said.

Buis also says McCain could cripple the alternative fuels industry.

“He (McCain) votes against renewable energy—not just votes against it but speaks out against it,” Buis said.  “It’s a very wrong move.”

“This election is too important for rural America to go down that road and not produce alternative energy.”

So, despite all this, why does rural America seem to support McCain?

“It’s a lack of education and understanding,” according to Buis.

Jason Frerichs, a Democratic legislative candidate from northeast South Dakota and president of the Roberts County Farmers Union said the alternative energy business is at a critical juncture.

“We’re at a crossroads with the renewable fuels industry in South Dakota,” Frerichs, said.  “Now is not the time for Sen. McCain to throw up the white flag on renewable fuels.”

Buis wouldn’t speculate on who Obama would pick as Secretary of Agriculture should the Illinois Senator win next week.

Rick Hauffe, South Dakota Democratic Party executive director, said Buis is on the short list of possible ag secretary candidates for Barack Obama.

The Internal Revenue Service yesterday filed a tax lien against SDAPV Ag Development LLC of Lennox, SD in the amount of $38.200.00 with the Lincoln County Register of Deeds.

I believe this is one of several SDAPV entities that GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Joel Dykstra was involved in that received state and federal monies and loans. If I am wrong on these points, please correct me. I want to be accurate.

One of my sources tells me that these liens are typically taken over unpaid federal taxes. However, I am not sure why the IRS has taken this particular lien.

The lien encumbers a property until it is paid or otherwise removed or discharged.

Click this link to open the lien filing as a TIF: 20080623 10483121(1).TIF

Click this link to open the lien filing as a PDF: 20080623 10483121(1).pdf

Technorati Tags: SDAPV, South Dakota Ag Producer Ventures, Joel Dykstra, IRS, federal tax lien

Received this release this morning regarding the fight against the closure of the Campbell County FSA office.  Like I wrote earlier, next time, don’t for Republicans who don’t have your interests at heart.  Like State FSA Director Steve Cutler is going to go to bat for you?  Funny.  His boss is George W. Bush and not you, my Campbell County farmer friends.  Good luck.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Campbell County Economic Development
Ralph Hanson, Coordinator
mailto:rhanson@valleytel.net
telephone: 605-889-2509
Box 116, Pollock, SD 57648

FARMERS FIGHT TO KEEP FSA OFFICE OPEN

MOUND CITY- Recently (Tuesday, August 7. 2007) more than 100 farmers and other concerned citizens gathered at the Mound City Community Center to give input and listen to State Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Steve Cutler give details about his unpopular “Revised SD State FSA Plan.” The news was not good for these north central South Dakota farmers. Part of Cutler’s plan proposes closing the Campbell County FSA office in Mound City and moving employees and records to Walworth FSA office in Selby. Three other counties, Hyde, Jackson and Sanborn are also slated to be shut down and combined with respective neighboring counties.

Campbell County Economic Development Coordinator Ralph Hanson said after the meeting, “We plan to fight the closing of the Campbell County FSA office with every means possible.” He went on to say, “Closing of FSA offices could happen anywhere in South Dakota and we are asking producers from other counties to join us in our efforts to derail state FSA Director Cutler’s absurd plan to close local FSA offices. Producers and other concerned citizens can help by contacting South Dakota’s congressional delegation in Washington, DC and also by expressing concerns directly to State FSA Executive Director Steve Cutler.”

If the Campbell County FSA office is combined and moved to Walworth County, producers in the Pollock area will be forced to travel over 40 miles one way to conduct FSA business. Doing one stop Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) business and FSA business will no longer be possible for any Campbell County Producers with one office located in Mound City and the other in Selby.

This inconvenience and reduction in services to producers is not the only issue that bothers Hanson. “Closing the FSA office in Campbell County will be another economic blow to a rural area that is already stressed by drought, mandatory school consolidations and declining populations. For the Campbell County Seat of Mound City the FSA office is one of the cornerstones helping to keep this small community alive”.

According to Hanson, the Campbell County FSA office is very efficient and even attracts producers from neighboring North Dakota because of its efficiency. “We don’t understand why the state FSA director is choosing to close an efficient office like Campbell County when there are other offices in SD that are over staffed for their work load. If this is a cost saving effort it seems to me that it would make more sense to consolidate over staffed FSA offices.”

The Campbell County FSA Office has been a show case when it comes to cost saving. Hanson points out that Campbell County and Walworth FSA offices were the first in SD to share a County Executive Director (CED). “Campbell and Walworth FSA started sharing a CED more than 10 years ago and in those 10 years saved the state FSA over $600,000 in operating expenses. Campbell County FSA Office should be the model for cost saving not a candidate for closure.”

South Dakota’s congressional delegation are unanimous in their support to keep local FSA offices open affirms Hanson. “But they need support and encouragement from constituents to keep this issue alive at the congressional level.” Stephanie Herseth Sandlin successfully amended the 2007 Farm Bill to prevent relocation of any FSA offices until one year after a new Farm Bill is passed. Senator Tim Johnson says he supports the House moratorium language and Senator John Thune
says FSA streamlining efforts should begin at headquarters.

“The urgent and pressing issue for Campbell County is that State FSA Executive Director Cutler is rushing to finalize the Campbell County closing before the new Farm Bill is passed,” declares Hanson. “With current Farm Bill language we do not know if the office closing moratorium will be retroactive to FSA offices closed before the Farm Bill becomes enacted and signed by the President. We need
clarification on this matter right away.”

For more information you can contact Campbell County Economic Development Coordinator Ralph Hanson at 606-889-2509 or by E-mail rhanson@valleytel.net.

—30—

Background Information:

Campbell County is in North Central South Dakota
Campbell County FSA paid out over $4.5 million in program payments to
just under 400 producers in 2006.

Contacts for more information:

Campbell County Economic Development
Ralph Hanson, Coordinator
telephone: 605-889-2509
mailto:rhanson@valleytel.net

Leroy Sandmeir, Chair Campbell County Commission
605-649-6493

Alvin Fjeldheim, Campbell County Commissioner
605-889-2414

The farmers in Campbell County are complaining about the Bush Administration plan to close the FSA office in their area.

• Read KELOLAND’s Farmers Protest FSA Closure

How much you want to bet a majority of those farmers also voted for George W. Bush in the last two elections?

Sorry guys, but you can’t play with or vote for snakes and not expect to get bit.  When you vote for people who don’t have your interests at heart, this is a good example of what happens to you.

I’m no expert on the intracies of the Farm Bill, but at least according to a report from CongressNow, there are at least two provisions that would appear to be of great benefit to South Dakota—expanded rural broadband access and additional research on ethanol byproducts.

A blurb:

Lawmakers Address Broadband, Ethanol Research as Farm Bill Markup Winds Down

Returning this morning after a late-night markup session, the House Agriculture Committee continued its work on a 2007 farm bill (H.R. 2419), quickly moving through amendments to the rural development and research titles of the bill, including broadband development in rural areas and research on ethanol byproducts. The panel is expected to vote on final passage later today.

While South Dakota’s Republican governors and attorney generals refuse to enforce our own country of labeling law for meat that’s been on the books for decades, Congress refuses to enforce the more recently passed federal law.

A blurb from the New York Times:

Labels Lack Food’s Origin Despite Law
By ANDREW MARTIN
Congress has delayed the enforcement of a law that requires country-of-origin labels on meat and produce.

What is the problem with enforcing a law that not only helps South Dakota and American livestock producers and farmers but also protects consumers and allows them to make intelligent choices about the foods they buy?

Is the foreign meat and produce lobby that strong? Seems like enforcement should be a no brainer.

Below are South Dakota’s meat labeling laws.

South Dakota’s COOL Law

39-5-5. Sign and labeling required for sale of imported meat- Misdemeanor.

Any person who knowingly sells or offers for sale any meat which is the product of any foreign country or imported from without the boundaries of the United States,or any meat product containing such imported meat, without indicating this fact by display of a conspicuous sign in his place of business and by labels or brands on each quarter, half or whole carcass of such meat, or on each can,case or package containing any of the above-mentioned product, naming the country of its origin and the date of exportation is guilty of a Class 2misdemeanor.

Source: SL 1964, ch 75, §§1, 2; 1977, ch 190, §362.

Reenforcement of COOL with Feds

38-1-38.1. Principles of state before federal government.

The State of South Dakota, its agencies and representatives shall adhere to the following principles whenever representing the State of South Dakota before the United States Congress, the President, the United States Department of Agriculture, or any other federal agency in any matter concerning the cattle industry:

(1) Federal beef import quotas should be broadened to cover all classification of cattle, beef,and beef products;

(2) Federal beef import quotas should be correlated with domestic beef production so that beef imports will increase when domestic production is low and decrease when domestic production is high;

(3) The federalgovernment should require all imported beef and beef products to be clearlylabeled so as to identify the country of origin;

(4) No meat maybe imported into this country unless it meets federal meat inspection standards;

(5) Federal health inspection of imported live cattle should be at least as stringent asthe import health inspection of the exporting country;

(6) The federal government should vigorously enforce all existing statutes and treaty restrictions against unfair international trade practices, such as beef export subsidies, rebates, and production credits.

Source: SL 1979, ch 261, §2.

My friend and client Sen. Frank Kloucek (D-Scotland) sent the following letter to incoming South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Bill Even.

Frank has a few questions for the new guy.

March 23^rd 2007

Dear Bill:

Good Luck on your move in state government from GOED to the Dept. of Agriculture. I wish you the best in the years ahead. Bill would you please answer the following questions?

1 How many successful meat packing and or processing plants has the Dept. of Ag helped start in South Dakota during the past six years? What will you do about this issue?

2. How many farms and ranches did we lose in South Dakota during this period? What will you do to help change this?

3 How many dairy operations did we lose the past six years? How many dairy cows did we lose during this period?

4 The past six years how many small locker state inspected processing plants did we help start? What is your plan?

5 Will you advocate that investors in other packing plant projects instead support and invest in failed projects such as Ridgefield Farms packing plant? Why or why not?

6 Did you have any role in the Ridgefield Farms Project from start to finish? If not what would you have done differently to avoid this costly fiasco?

7. If you knew that Ridgefield was no longer following their original investment plan of slaughtering cattle what would you have done?

8. What should be done about Roundup Ready Alfalfa production in South Dakota and why?

9 What role does the Secretary of agriculture play in maintaining zoning safeguards and what is your opinion on elimination of the peoples right to vote on zoning issues.

10 Are you an advocate of corporate controlled production agriculture or individual ownership and responsibility of our family farms and ranches?

11 What role did you play in helping the Campbell County PIC project and in securing the $400,000 transportation grant to Campbell County for road access to this project?

12 What is your opinion of the development of Campbell County Meats Harvesting and Processing facility and why?

13 What will be your role in advocating R-calf and Stock Growers; NCBA and SDCA, organizations? Your view on the proposed mandatory five-year vote on the beef check off? Your view on the uses of all state mandatory check off dollars? What do you see as your role with the brand board and brand board issues?

14 What is the future of South Dakota Certified Beef program? How many cattle are currently enrolled? How many were slaughtered in South Dakota in 2006? Are we competing with private enterprise on this issue?

14 Is mandatory breeding stock Brucellosis vaccination and identification a better option than creating a new costly unproved mandatory federal identification program for cattle?

Thanks Bill! It was great working with you this session! Please respond as soon as you can!

Senator Frank Kloucek

technorati tags:agriculture, Kloucek, Dakota, Governor, Rounds, Even

State Senator Frank Kloucek talks to the press Saturday at the Sioux Falls Holiday Inn City Centre regarding Ridgefield Farms and other failed ag value added projects that received stata loans.From state Sen. Frank Kloucek’s news conference yesterday, which I assisted him with.

• Read: Senator wants Ridgefield deal investigated (Argus Leader)

I’ll be posting additional information, such as documents and videos, as I finish getting them read scanned, etc. today.

News release:
Embargoed until 10 am Feb 10^th 2007

Senator Kloucek Pursues Ridgefield Investigation

Senator Frank Kloucek (D-Scotland) announced today that he and a Ridgefield investor met with Attorney General Larry Long on Feb 7^th and presented documentation to help convince Long to do a complete and thorough investigation into the Ridgefield Farms fiasco.

“Information and valuable contact information were presented to the attorney general that should convince him that there is a need for a full and transparent investigation of Ridgefield Farms.” said Sen. Kloucek

So far the state has written off on 7-11 06 $459,025 dollars to Ridgefield Farms of South Dakota. Also the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council has written off $100,000 to the same entity. Flandreau economic development board has outstanding loan balances to Ridgefield of $100,000 for operations and $750,000 for purchase of livestock, none of which has been paid back.

The South Dakota Corn Utilization Council also has written off $89,088.64 owed from Dairy Development LLC a part of SD. Ag Producer Ventures. The Corn Council has given money to groups such as AG United as well.

“I have requested an attorney general’s opinion on the use of Corn Utilization Council funds given to three entities: Ridgefield Farms, Ag Producer Ventures and Ag United,” Sen. Kloucek said.

The question is: Was SDCL 38-32-13 violated by the Corn Utilization Council by giving money to these entities?

There will be a meeting of concerned Ridgefield investors on Feb 24^th at 10 a.m. at the Beadle County Extension office in Huron to discuss the future of Ridgefield.

“Whether there were any irregularities or not in the whole Ridgefield project, the benchmark or standard must be raised. We must ensure that proper steps were taken in the past and will be taken in the future to protect our state tax dollars, corporations, cooperatives and private investors so that something of this magnitude can not happen again!” concluded Sen. Kloucek.

technorati tags:senator, kloucek, Ridgefield, REDI, south, dakota, agriculture, securities, governor, rounds

Blogged with Flock

From KELOLAND-TV today:

Farm Numbers Continue To Dwindle

A trend of fewer farms continues in South Dakota.

The Agricultural Statistics Service says there were 31,300 farms in the state last year, down 100 from the previous year.

That’s a four percent reduction from ten years ago and a 13 percent reduction from the 36,000 farms the state had 20 years ago.

The average farm size last year was nearly 1,400 acres, up slightly from 2005.

technorati tags:farms, farmers, south, dakota

Blogged with Flock

Iraq to USA: Less wheat from you!It's not bad enough that we are mired in a mess in Iraq.  It's not like the USA hasn't done at least a few things for Iraq in the Iraq War.  We toppled a horrible dictator.  We're trying to make them a democracy.  Over 2,000 American service men and women have sacrificed in this effort.

You'd think the Iraqis could then at least "buy American."

Well, think again, as the Dow Jones news agency reports via The Big News Network:

Iraq Expected To Reduce US Wheat Purchase -Grain Official

BAGHDAD (Dow Jones)--Iraq is expected to reduce a possible purchase of one million metric tons of hard wheat from the U.S., an official with the Iraqi Grain Board said Wednesday.

"We are buying between 700,000 to 800,000 metric tons of wheat from the U.S. instead of the one million tons we planned to buy earlier," the official told Dow Jones Newswires.

He said some U.S. companies were unable to supply the required quantity under Iraq's new system, the free on board formula.

Um, free on board?  How about we charge you for getting rid of Saddam? Buy your stinkin' wheat from the USA.  Iraq, it's the least you can do.

The following comes from Charlie Johnson and the newly formed Alliance for Our Future.

-----

Madison farmer Charlie Johnson announced today the formation of the Alliance for Our Future.

Groups and individuals are invited to join the network if they pledge to support four goals: (1) The right to of local citizens to refer a controversial livestock permit to a vote, (2). to oppose Industrial Agriculture, (3) to protect our natural resources and (4) to promote authentic family farming. (To read the full story click here to go to The Jump.)

From Sen. Frank Kloucek (D-Scotland):

-----

Senator Frank Kloucek asks County Commisioners to declare disaster due to spring rains and flooding!

For immediate release: News release June 21 2005 for more info call 583-4468

Senator Frank Kloucek (D-Scotland) had presented on his behalf, written letters today to Bon Homme and Turner County commissioners at their meetings supporting disaster declarations in the two counties. "In my 48 years as a resident of Bon Homme County I have not seen conditions quite like this. The ground is soaked and smells like dead fish! The farmers that planted have to replant and those that can not are faced with some tough economic decisions. Such a declaration will open the door for various programs and opportunities to keep farmers on the farm!" said Senator Frank.  (Click here to read more.)